Question 723 of 1,031

Describe Azure architecture and services →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

AZ-900 Describe Azure architecture and services Practice Question

This AZ-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe azure architecture and services. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.

A company runs an e-commerce application on multiple Azure virtual machines in a single region. The IT team needs to distribute incoming web traffic across the VMs, offload SSL/TLS termination to improve VM performance, and route requests based on URL path (for example, /images to one pool of VMs and /api to another). The solution must handle these requirements within a single Azure region. Which Azure service should the company use?

Question 1mediummultiple choice

Read the full NAT/PAT explanation →

A
Azure Application Gateway
Correct. Azure Application Gateway is a regional layer 7 load balancer that supports SSL offloading, URL-based routing, and web application firewall capabilities. It is the appropriate service for this single-region scenario with path-based routing requirements.
B
Azure Traffic Manager
Why wrong: Incorrect. Azure Traffic Manager operates at the DNS level (layer 3/4) and routes traffic based on DNS responses, not by inspecting HTTP/HTTPS URL paths. It also does not perform SSL offloading and is typically used for global traffic distribution across regions.
C
Azure Load Balancer
Why wrong: Incorrect. Azure Load Balancer works at layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and distributes traffic based on IP address and port. It cannot inspect URL paths or offload SSL termination, which are layer 7 functions needed in this scenario.
D
Azure Front Door
Why wrong: Incorrect. Azure Front Door is a global layer 7 service that can perform URL-based routing and SSL offloading, but it is designed for multi-region deployments and is not the most suitable for a single-region solution. Azure Application Gateway is the recommended service for regional path-based routing.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

✓

Azure Application Gateway

Azure Application Gateway is a layer 7 load balancer that can distribute incoming web traffic based on URL path, offload SSL/TLS termination to reduce VM CPU overhead, and route requests to different backend pools (e.g., /images and /api) within a single Azure region. It supports HTTP/HTTPS traffic and provides Web Application Firewall (WAF) capabilities, making it the correct choice for this scenario.

Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✓
Azure Application Gateway
Why this is correct
Correct. Azure Application Gateway is a regional layer 7 load balancer that supports SSL offloading, URL-based routing, and web application firewall capabilities. It is the appropriate service for this single-region scenario with path-based routing requirements.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Azure Traffic Manager
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Azure Traffic Manager operates at the DNS level (layer 3/4) and routes traffic based on DNS responses, not by inspecting HTTP/HTTPS URL paths. It also does not perform SSL offloading and is typically used for global traffic distribution across regions.
✗
Azure Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Azure Load Balancer works at layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and distributes traffic based on IP address and port. It cannot inspect URL paths or offload SSL termination, which are layer 7 functions needed in this scenario.
✗
Azure Front Door
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Azure Front Door is a global layer 7 service that can perform URL-based routing and SSL offloading, but it is designed for multi-region deployments and is not the most suitable for a single-region solution. Azure Application Gateway is the recommended service for regional path-based routing.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates confuse Azure Load Balancer (layer 4) with Application Gateway (layer 7), assuming any load balancer can handle URL path routing and SSL termination, but only Application Gateway provides these application-layer features.

Trap categories for this question

Scenario analysis trap
Incorrect. Azure Load Balancer works at layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and distributes traffic based on IP address and port. It cannot inspect URL paths or offload SSL termination, which are layer 7 functions needed in this scenario.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Azure Application Gateway uses a listener to accept incoming HTTP/HTTPS traffic, applies routing rules based on URL path patterns (e.g., /images/*), and terminates SSL/TLS at the gateway, decrypting traffic before forwarding it to backend VMs. This reduces CPU load on backend VMs and allows centralized certificate management. In real-world scenarios, this is critical for microservices architectures where different URL paths map to distinct backend services, and SSL offloading improves VM performance by up to 30%.

KKey Concepts to Remember

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.

TExam Day Tips

Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.

Key takeaway

Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Real-world example

How this comes up in practice

An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this AZ-900 question test?

Describe Azure architecture and services — This question tests Describe Azure architecture and services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Azure Application Gateway — Azure Application Gateway is a layer 7 load balancer that can distribute incoming web traffic based on URL path, offload SSL/TLS termination to reduce VM CPU overhead, and route requests to different backend pools (e.g., /images and /api) within a single Azure region. It supports HTTP/HTTPS traffic and provides Web Application Firewall (WAF) capabilities, making it the correct choice for this scenario.

What should I do if I get this AZ-900 question wrong?

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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